A marvelous follow up to the Gods of Gotham. Lyndsay Faye manages to capture 1840's Manhattan perfectly. The Wilde Brothers, Julius Carpenter and others are all fully drawn wonderful characters each with secrets to reveal. The main plot concerns the horrible practice of rounding up free blacks in the north and selling them to slavecatchers from the south. This practice has great repercussions for all involved and none are left unscarred by the end of it.

A fantastic delighfully dark historically rich mystery novel. Not to be missed.